Can I Build Muscle Without Taking Supplements? (The Right Answer)

You started going to the gym and noticed these big guys hanging around…And you wonder what do they do to build such a big muscle? Are they taking any food supplements to make them that big? Well, maybe they do take them, but this usually depends on one’s knowledge and individual expectations.

However, the next question which might come to your mind is: can I build muscle without supplements at all? The short answer is. Yes, you can build muscles without taking any supplements.

Many people believe marketing ads in the industry press and promotional leaflets, thinking that supplementation, just like diet and training, is necessary to build good looking and healthy muscles. What’s more, the lack of muscle growth is often explained by the use of too little or too low-affecting supplements …

But is faith in the strength of supplements exaggerated? Is it impossible to develop muscles without these protein supplements, gainers, creatine, amino acid tablets, and many others?

What are Supplements to Build Muscle Mass

Supplements for building muscle mass are often perceived as miraculous, magically almost functional formulas, whose incorporation into the diet causes a rapid increase in muscle mass. Also: many people do not have the idea that the ingredients of supplements are naturally found in ordinary foods.

For example, an excellent source of BCAAs, i.e., branched chain amino acids are eggs, meat, fish and dairy products; they even occur in vegetable products.

Next, anabolic creatine occurs naturally in beef, fish, and pork. Supplements contain so-called isolated compounds that are obtained from edible products or obtained synthetically. When you are thinking to buy glutamine, remember that at least a dozen, and sometimes even more grams of this amino acid are provided every day with your diet.

In fact, with some exceptions, these supplements do not work as we would expect. Let’s be honest: the vast majority of supplements sold for building muscle mass do not work as their ads suggest.

Too deep faith in the superpower of powders and pills, it can lead to disappointment, and will also divert attention from the basics of what training and diet are. You have to realize that nutrients and supplements are only an addition, which is not only a condition for achieving fantastic effects but just a supporting factor.

If an adequate caloric and protein surplus are ensured in your diet, adding nutrients will not only result in a faster increase in your muscle mass but will increase the level of body fat.

Therefore, supplements are not an indispensable element of work with your muscles.

How to Increase Muscle Mass Without Supplements

Diet

The most important thing when building muscle mass is proper nutrition. For this purpose, you should provide the body with the right amount of calories, based on high-quality proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

Remember, always try to buy organic and unprocessed food. Only this kind of food guarantees the high content of vitamins and minerals necessary for the proper functioning of your body and the absorption of energy.

The training is only to give a signal to grow, and a proper diet will guarantee the compensation of energy losses along with providing the surplus needed to build up muscle mass.

The right amount of calories is also necessary to be able to become training progressively more intensive.
To build muscle mass, you should provide between 1 – 1.4 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. If you’re slim, then choose the upper limit. However, if you have more fat in your body, pick the lower limits for protein intake.

The remaining amount of energy you should receive from carbohydrates and fats. If you are slim and have difficulty building muscle mass, you should receive the most of the energy from eating carbs.

However, if you tend to accumulate fat, try to gain energy from eating more fat in your diet. Calculate your calorie needs by knowing your BMI. From BMI value, you should start and observe the reactions of your body. If the mass of your muscles does not increase, start eating more calories – follow the guidelines as above.

Water

Drink water to properly hydrate the body. If possible, drink boiled water and without ice cubes. It’s best to drink water at room temperature. Important is both the amount of water drunk every day, as well as during training. In addition to drinking water, eat a daily portion of fresh fruit.

If your body weight before and after training differs, this is a wrong signal. Your body weight should be in similar values. If not then drink about 0.7 L of water for every pound of lost body weight, says Dr. Larry Kenney, a physiologist at Pennsylvania State University.

Generally, try to drink at least 2.5L of water a day. However, proper hydration should be assessed by yourself, because each of us has individual needs.

Workout

Proper training stimulates the body to increase muscle mass. Because from a biological point of view, you do not need large muscles daily, so to increase their size, you should put more and more strain on them.

The important thing is that from training to training, you should progress step by step.

Each additional burden on the next training while performing the same number of repetitions as on the previous one will result in a stimulus. This stimulus will force the muscles to increase their size and strength. Of course, as above, remember about the right diet.

Rest

In addition to the diet, proper regeneration is also a crucial factor in conditioning the increase in muscle mass.

Along with well-planned training, also you should add good sleep and avoid excessive stress.

In stressful situations, it is worth approaching them with a distance. Try to learn the right techniques to overcome stress.

When it comes to a good night’s sleep, it is a very, very important condition not only when you want to build muscle mass, but in general, it is also vital to maintaining good health.

During sleep, your body produces hormones that determine the proper development of muscle mass and cell regeneration. During sleep, the fibers of the trained muscles increase their volume and become stronger.

Rest and regeneration is also an essential element for the proper functioning of joints, tendons, and ligaments quite heavily exploited during training.

Beginner Muscle Building Workout Routine Without Supplements

Usually, a frequent mistake of people who start training at the gym is too high ambitions. They often manifest themselves in the training plans of professional weightlifters or bodybuilders.

However, such a route is not appropriate because it quickly leads to big disappointments. I think that in this case when we are just starting an adventure at the gym, it is better to get to know the training plan, called FBW.

Full Body Workout (FBW) is an excellent training plan for people starting to build their bodies.

FBW training is done three times a week. In one session you train the vast majority or all major muscle groups. Thanks to such training, the muscles will get a strong stimulus, thanks to which their optimal development in the initial phase of the exercise will be possible.

In this system, during one training day, only one exercise is performed on each muscle part. At the next training, focusing on the same party, a separate exercise will be used to develop the muscle at a completely different angle.

Before you start your FBW workout always remember to begin with a good warm-up.
The workout you should start with the largest part of your muscles – it means your legs. You supposed to finish on the smallest muscle part (e.g., biceps) or the one that is usually left at the end like an abdominal.

You can do chest training to avoid injuries after doing sit-ups before your back. Thanks to this approach, you will have a bit more time to rest your spine. This approach is especially useful if you are planning to do a deadlift for your back muscles.

Beginner Muscle Building Workout – How to Train

Number of sets

Most often, practicing doing three sets. As you are an inexperienced person doing three sets will allow you to feel the training and give an incentive to muscle development.

The number of repetitions

The number of repetitions is adapted to the weight you are using. In the beginning, the weight is not so important, so the best solution will be to end each set in the range of 12 to 20 correctly performed repetitions.

Breaks between exercises and sets

The intervals between exercises should be 3 minutes. In turn, the time between the next sets of a given exercise should be for a beginner from 60 to 120 seconds.

Due to the little experience of the beginner, the maladjustment of muscles and the capacity for high overloads, it is better to do this training, focusing on individual exercises.

Summary

As with the answer at the beginning of this article, of course, you can build muscle mass without using supplements. What’s more, without supplements the building process of your muscles will not run at low efficiency.

It is vital for you to introduce to your lifestyle an individual discipline and remember the correct diet and persevering workout. Going this way you will undoubtedly achieve success and you will build your body the way you want – a well-looking and comfortable figure.

As I mentioned above, the importance of muscle mass building supplements merely is oversaturated. Just keep to a right diet, do proper workout and have a good rest. That’s all you have to do to build your dream body.

On the other hand, it is worth bearing in mind that there are some supplements that with a well-chosen diet and workout can bring a lot of benefits. However, this applies to people who are heavily burdened and who practice sport competitively.

However, if you want to try supplementation, then the decision to put them into your diet should be individual and best in consultation with a qualified personal trainer.

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